“Mommy!”
As soon as Aeli set foot in the bedroom through the secret passage Lutis had told her about, the child jumped up from the couch and shouted.
It seemed the child had been waiting not in their own room, but in their bedroom.
Aeli patted the back of the child who clung to her tightly and said,
“Adi, Adi. Shh. It’s late now, so let’s be a little quiet, shall we? What if someone else hears and gets startled?”
In fact, rather than being startled, Aeli was worried about being caught entering through the door.
The child, who had been staring up at Aeli with her index finger pressed to her lips, nodded while placing her index finger on her own lips in the same way.
“Okay. Shh.”
“That’s right, good. Come to think of it, Adi, you’ve washed up and changed clothes too?”
“Mm- I was originally going to wait until Mommy came, but Daddy said if I don’t wash, I won’t get snacks, so……”
Aeli could roughly imagine what had happened.
The child must have stubbornly refused to wash, half out of tiredness and annoyance, and half worried that Aeli would come and go while washing.
Lutis would have stared at the child blankly and then just picked her up and put her in the bathroom.
‘He’s become a real dad.’
It was a strange thing to say since he had always been a dad, but Aeli thought it was visible that he had learned how to handle the child.
After all, just like Aeli, the child couldn’t resist anything sweet, and sometimes seemed to like snacks even more than Aeli at the same age.
Using snacks as a threat worked best for them.
As if feeling wronged again, the child pouted and grumbled.
Listening closely, it was roughly about how Aeli had gone up there without her earlier, yet had the nerve to threaten her with snacks.
‘I figured that was the case, she must have been upset.’
Aeli sat on the bed, placed the child on her lap, and thought.
Although it was getting better, perhaps due to the long separation, the child acted as if she had an obligation to always be included when Aeli and Lutis were together.
‘Even now, it’s at a level where she’s okay with just one of us by her side, but……’
Earlier, they had left her with the sleeping Knight Commander and went off, so she seemed quite upset.
With prying eyes around, she couldn’t openly complain, and when she tried to ask why the two were alone in the room, her mother was nowhere to be found.
She wanted to complain to her father, but he wouldn’t accept it either, so she had no choice but to feel wronged.
Listing it out, Aeli felt like they had gone a bit too far, so she kissed the child’s cheek and said,
“You were upset that we left you out and went alone?”
“Well…… I was, but it’s okay now that Mommy is here.”
The child’s face as she grinned, cupping the cheek Aeli had kissed with her palm, was adorable.
Not because the child was hers, but even objectively, the lovely sight made Aeli smile involuntarily.
‘They say you have to receive love to know how to give it.’
Even if she added up all the time she had been by the child’s side, it would barely reach a year.
Even considering the young age of 5, it felt ridiculously short, and Aeli was simply amazed at how beautifully the child had grown.
As she stroked the child’s head to comfort her, the child lifted her chin with a prim face, and Aeli looked around the room and asked,
“Adi, by the way, where’s Daddy?”
“Daddy’s busy.”
“……”
“Ah, no…… He’s a little busy……”
“……”
“He’s…… just a little busy……”
Well, that wasn’t quite the meaning behind Aeli’s question. Aeli scratched her neck awkwardly and met the child’s eyes.
She was just flustered and unable to answer due to the unexpectedly bold response.
But somehow, the child’s confidence seemed to wane, and by the end, Aeli could barely hear what she was saying.
Aeli spoke again.
“That’s right. Adi needs Daddy, and Mommy and Daddy need Adi too.”
“……Really?”
“Of course. You know how much Mommy and Daddy love Adi.”
“……”
“This is a secret, but last time when Adi was sick, Mommy cried a lot. When we were at the estate, Daddy cried too saying he wronged Adi, remember?”
“Yes……”
“So don’t be too upset. Daddy was just worried Adi might get sick if she doesn’t wash, it’s not because he has any ill intentions.”
“……”
The child, who had been fidgeting with her fingers with her head bowed, suddenly buried her face in Aeli’s chest.
Aeli knew it meant the child’s mood had improved but she was embarrassed to answer, so it was quite difficult for her to hold back the laughter trying to escape her closed lips.
‘Lutis also bows his head or turns around to hide his face first when he’s embarrassed, they’re so alike.’
Of course it was natural for a son to resemble his father.
Aeli, who had been looking down at the child’s reddened ears and neck, couldn’t hold back and chuckled.
The child, who had just washed up not long ago, had a fluffy scent wafting from her.
Hugging the child tightly, Aeli thought.
What she said wasn’t a lie, but she doubted these words would ever be directly spoken by Lutis.
Partly because he wasn’t naturally affectionate, and from what Aeli had seen, contrary to his appearance, Lutis was quite considerate of those close to him. So he rarely spoke his mind.
“-So I had milk with honey and cookies. The milk could have been a little sweeter, but since it was before bed, he only put half a spoon saying it shouldn’t be too sweet……”
“So you were disappointed by that? Then shall we ask them to make souffle with milk and two spoons of honey tomorrow morning?”
“Souffle?”
“Mm, Adi likes pancakes, right? The taste is similar to that, but the texture is a bit softer.”
“……Is it tastier than pancakes?”
“Mommy likes souffle a bit more? You can have it as a dessert with fruits or whipped cream, or have it as a meal with vegetables, meat, or fish.”
But Adi would probably want to eat it with fruits rather than vegetables or meat, right?
When Aeli said it as if she already knew, the black-haired head nodded up and down repeatedly.
It wasn’t good to be such a picky eater, but honestly, since that pickiness clearly came from Aeli, she couldn’t scold the child.
‘I…… have no right……’
Suddenly, Aeli remembered Jalapeno the mole they had tried to keep at the mansion long ago but ended up sending away.
The family had suffered for a while because Aeli had left all the vegetables she didn’t want to eat, using the excuse of feeding them to the mole.
Honestly, half the reason they couldn’t keep Jalapeno was because of that.
The other half was because Mother had firmly shaken her head, saying the mole already had an owner so they should release it soon.
‘Where would a mole have an owner, it must have all been lies in the end.’
Aeli nodded slightly as she thought so.
The child, already distracted by the souffle, was solemnly pulling Aeli’s arm, urging her to go to sleep quickly.
‘Come to think of it, I need to tell Lutis about the princess story too.’
Aeli had been too preoccupied with ending her ghost life as soon as she returned from the Imperial Palace to have a proper conversation about this.
Aeli, who had been contemplating whether to wait for Lutis for a while, slowly nodded at the child looking up at her from under the covers.
“Mommy, hurry!”
“Mm, okay.”
……Let’s sleep for now.
[This is the timeline separator]It was early the next morning.
Aeli, who glanced out the window that seemed to be just dawning, turned to the side with a face that hadn’t shaken off drowsiness.
The child was stuck close to her side, showing no signs of waking up, and Lutis seemed to have not come in all night, with the bedding pristine without even a slight wrinkle.
“Mmh, cold……”
“……Ah. Sorry, it’s still early morning, so Adi can sleep a little more.”
“Mommy too……”
“Okay. Then Mommy will lie down too, shall we sleep some more together?”
As Aeli raised her upper body, cold wind must have come in, as the child curled up, opened her eyes slightly, and whimpered.
Aeli patted the child’s chest and was about to lie down again, when suddenly.
Flash!
“The Duke is really hard to see in person. It’s been a while since the war ended, yet not even once-”
“……!”
As her vision flashed, a low growling voice full of anger was heard.
The voice ringing in her ears was so familiar that Aeli, startled, abruptly sat up.
The child, who had been startled awake, trembled and grabbed Aeli’s arm.
“……”
“……”
Black hair that reminded Aeli of her original hair color came into view.
Aeli opened her mouth.
“No, Noel-.”
“……Huh.”
No, she tried to open it.
But the deep golden eyes first fell upon Aeli’s honey-colored hair and the child beside her.
The person who had been staring blankly at the sight let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
And immediately after.
Bang!
Aeli froze at the attack flying towards her.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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